Managing Individual Differences Assessing Personalities Slide 2
Why Personality? Top managerial challenge: The most frequent
problems are a result of mismatched personalities Davenport and
Harris (Competing on Analytics) Selection and placement in the
right roles PI Index: Clients include Microsoft, Exxon, IKEA,
Caterpillar Slide 3 Alan Mulally CEO, Ford The Demanding
Cheerleader Dan Akerson CEO, GM Management by Barking Sergio
Marchionne CEO, Chrysler Management by Walking Around gives hugs
and means it no blame thrower but no soft touch either has swept
aside a culture of politicking and back-covering among Ford
executives A gruff former naval officer with a frosty
demeanordoesnt do hugs. Shook up bureaucracy at GM but analysts
worry about the effect of all that ordering- about on morale...
[wrong] approach to take with unions/dealers constantly on the
move, dressed casually in a dark sweater (he says he buys them in
bulk) frequently pops up at Chryslers and Fiats factories to fix
things on the spot for good or ill, a micromanager Slide 4
Personality in the workplace Should we select on the basis of
personality for jobs? If so, how? Should managers seek to provide
feedback on personality issues? Should they attempt to fix
personalities? Should they coach others on personality improvement?
Do organizations need to be diverse in terms of personality? Will
organizations that are diverse in terms of personality perform
better in the marketplace than those that are homogenous? Slide 5
Slide 6 Slide 7 Slide 8 Slide 9 Slide 10 Slide 11 Slide 12 Key
Challenges What is personality, and what is its relation to
behavior? Is personality in the eye of the beholder? What of
self-fulfilling prophecies? Whats an appropriate scientific measure
of personality? Is it valid? Is it reliable? How does one
distinguish the influence of personality on actions from that of
culture on actions? Is personality destiny? Slide 13 The Blank
Slate? We all harbor theories of human nature: we use them to
persuade, threaten, inform, love, deceive. We also use them to
manage people in the workplace. The human mind has no inherent
structure; it is malleable and can be shaped by socialization,
culture, etc.? John Lockes empiricism vs. modern genetics Slide 14
14 The Blank Slate? Personality Predicts Brain Response During
Cognitive Tasks Kumari, Ffytche, Williams, and Gray (2004), The
Journal of Neuroscience Slide 15 History in Brief Earliest work:
Personality as inner essence. Freud/Jung: Influence of early
experience on later personality; structure of personality; role of
sub- conscious and collective conscious. Skinner: Focus on
observable behaviors; operant conditioning. Slide 16 Personality
Today Walter Mischel (1960s): Key influence of situation on
behaviors Current focus: -Behavior as function of disposition and
situation -More recent work looking into the link between biology
and personality (resurrection of social darwinism?) -The Big 5;
Self- monitoring Slide 17 The Big Five Personality Dimensions
Intellectual, imaginative, curious, broad minded 1) Openness to
experience Relaxed, secure, unworried 5 ) Neuroticism/Emotional
stability Dependable, responsible, achievement oriented, persistent
2) Conscientiousness Trusting, good natured, cooperative, soft
hearted 3) Agreeableness Outgoing, talkative, social, assertive 4)
Extraversion Characteristics of a Person Scoring Positively on the
Dimension Personality Dimension Slide 18 Myers-Briggs Attitudes
ExtraversionIntroversion Action Reflection Perceiving Functions
SensingINtuition Objective evidence Abstract evidence Judging
Functions Thinking Feeling Detached Empathetic Ambassador Functions
Judging Perceiving Closure Open-ended - Preferred modes of action
(not aptitude), like being left or right handed. Type (one or the
other) not trait (matter of degree). -93 forced choice questions
used to categorize into one of 16 possible types. (e.g., ENFP;
ISTP; etc.) Slide 19 Sample Questions from MBTI You are almost
never late for your appointments YES NO You like to be engaged in
an active and fast-paced job YES NO You enjoy having a wide circle
of acquaintances YES NO You feel involved when watching TV soaps
YES NO You are usually the first to react to a sudden event: the
telephone ringing or unexpected question YES NO 89% of the Fortune
100 use the MBTI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp Slide 20 MBTI INFJ:
The counselor I: 11%; N: 88%; F: 75%; J: 1% I= Introvert;
N=Intuitive; F=Feeling; J=Judging -Contribute to others welfare
-Like jobs requiring solitude -Also like interacting
non-superficially with people -Exert influence behind the scenes -
Attuned to values and seeking unique identity Examples: Sidney
Poitier, Alec Guiness, Carl Jung 1.5% of the US population is INFJ
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp Slide 21 Problems
with Psychometric Tests Forced choice questions (but were often in
the middle: continuous not binary) Assumes that who we are is
consistent; but in fact it depends, it varies depending on other
factors (e.g., preference for type of boss depends upon type of
job) Personality: A consistent pattern of behavior but this pattern
may vary across situations Very low test-retest consistency (Jung:
every individual is an exception to the rule; a parlor game)
Adaptive unconscious versus constructed self: which self are we
tapping. Two steps removed: personality trait behavior test Test
for global personality traits or local behaviors related to the
specific role you are trying to select for? Slide 22 Why do Firms
Use these Tests? (Despite the fact that they are potentially
invalid) Speed of processing Desperate need to anticipate,
understand, and resolve interpersonal issues Self-fulfilling
prophecies Hawthorne effects Slide 23 The Opacity of Behavior? Why
cant we simply divine intent and motivation from observed action?
Slide 24 Paul Ekman http://www.cio.com/archiv
e/120104/faces.htmlhttp://www.cio.com/archiv e/120104/faces.html
The face is like a penis? Can one learn about true intentions by
looking at discrepancies between spoken words and body language?
Slide 25 Why Does Personality Matter in the Contemporary Workplace?
If this were 1965 [you] would have gone to work for a company,
donned a blue suit, sat in your office and kept your head down; the
particulars of your personality wouldnt have mattered much. The
culture of most companies out there today is such that you will not
get a social script, blue suit, and organizational chart. You are
expected to be part of a fluid team, flexible and innovative, to
work with shifting groups in the absence of hierarchy. The
workplace doubles as a rec room: The particulars of your
personality matter a great deal. What is personality? Motivations,
skills, preferences, patterns of if..then responses (learned or
hardwired?) Slide 26 Who cares about personality? Select based on
performance? Slide 27 The Talent Myth The very best companies have
leaders who obsess over talent. Recruit stars; reward
disproportionately; push them into upper management track:bet on
the natural athletes The only thing that distinguishes Enron from
competitors is our people, our talent. We hire very smart people
and we pay them more than they think they are worth. Ken Lay
Differentiation and Affirmation: A (challenge and handsomely
(>2/3) reward), B (encourage and affirm), or C (shape up or ship
out). How should talent be assessed? Intelligence and intrinsic
qualities or raw experience and past performance? Whats wrong with
obsessing over talented employees? Is talent a fixed endowment, or
can it be developed/wasted? Is the system is only as strong as its
strongest stars vs. the system is the star: Enron vs. P&G Slide
28 The War for Talent Hire those with the highest IQs/those from
the best schools? -Correlation between IQ and job performance is
around.1 -At school, most things are about working by yourself. If
you work with someone else, its called cheating.in the real world,
everything you do involves working with people. Assessing workplace
ability: notoriously difficult: how do you assess performance when
someone is moving too fast for a meaningful assessment? The story
of Lou Pai at Enron: Is talent something separate from performance?
Slide 29 Kronos and the P.I. Index: A Classic Story of a Growing
Organization What problems arose as Kronos went from being a small
startup to a (pre-public offering) company with $30 million in
annual sales? (Today: 3400 employees; taken private in 2007)
Describe Mark Ains personality: What kind of a manager was he
(before Praendex)? What problems prompted Mark to bring Praendex
into the picture? What are the theories underlying Praendexs
approach to personality assessment? Do you buy into their views?
Why or why not? What kinds of benefits did Kronos gain from the use
of personality testing? Would you recommend a product like Praendex
to companies? Why or why not. http://www.kronos.com Slide 30 Mark
Ain and Problems before Praendex Mark Ain: Founded company in 77;
by 90, B.S., MIT; MBA, Rochester (OB) - I was always interested in
what made organizations and people tick - I always knew that I
wanted to do my own thing - Early years: did everything - People
thought: I made decisions from the hip; too involved in everything
- My philosophy was the best argument would win. - I assumed this
was a good way to operate because I was comfortable operating in
this mode -Hired Garret Lewis as COO in 86; by 90 let him go
Question: Could my management team handle higher level of
responsibility? Should I look for another COO? Slide 31 Praendex
and PI index Uncover behavioral styles to help managers understand
their own and others behaviors PI index: approx. 80 words (e.g.,
shy, helpful): pick ones you see as desirable. A Dominance
(unassuming belligerent) [motivated by money vs. encouragement) B-
Extraversion (shy/secretive friendly/sociable) [motivated by
prestige and status vs. prefer to work alone/want to show
competence) C- Patience (impatient/restless unresponsive/lazy)
[need for security and routine] D- Formality/conform to rules
(detail oriented rebellious/sloppy) [like to know whats expected;
structure and certainty; versus do your own thing] The behavior of
most individuals is remarkably consistent: a person tends to
respond in the same way to particular stimuli PI index not perfect
predictor; must control for relevant factors, such as education,
experience Tool for pre-employment screening; promote awareness of
self and others; Slide 32 Benefits of PI? Guidance on what kinds of
sales people and branch managers to hire (more high As and Bs
instead of high Ds) Insight into self: I realized how different I
was from most of our people; and how similar the management team
was to me; Paul Lacy (lower A and higher D): a valuable asset Mark
Ain: Venturer; Paul Lacy: Specialist; Decker: authoritative
salesperson, etc. Slide 33 Kronos after PI The PI gave us a
framework to understand our own and others behaviors. It gave us a
language to talk about things in a non-threatening way; it
legitimated talk about these things; and it provided an analytical
lens to make sense of these issues. Mark Ain started delegating
more: realized he was different; delineated responsibility; stopped
second-guessing everyone. Paul Lacy: from curmudgeon to valuable
player (who thinks differently than others implementation oriented
guy) Created a set of common goals: Everyone is now paid based on
the companys (not departments) performance plan Instituted a
communications committee made up of a mix of people so Paul wouldnt
have to do the communicating. Went public on June 5, 1992 (offered
at $56 million) Slide 34 What to do? Manufacture liking: Promote
familiarity Redefine similarity Foster bonding: the Sherif
experiments/outward bound Leverage the likable: Affective hubs:
identify; protect Work on the jerks: Reassess contribution
Socialize and coach Reposition (independent role) Slide 35 Marshall
Goldsmith Do you think that Goldsmith is providing a useful
service? Do you buy his recipe? Why or why not?
http://www.marshallgoldsmith.com/Page.as
px?PageID=2http://www.marshallgoldsmith.com/Page.as px?PageID=2
http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/ci
m/BusinessWeek.phphttp://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/ci
m/BusinessWeek.php Slide 36 Marshall Goldsmith Do you think that
Goldsmith is providing a useful service? Do you buy his recipe? Why
or why not? There are no selves, only behaviors Not behaviors,
perceptions Self is an illusion Easier to get un-f*ed up than to
understand why youre f*ed up, so just get un-f*ed up Recipe:
Apologize, reject excuses, declare dependence Slide 37 Impressions
Dont Manage Themselves Michael E. Wasserman, 2010 37
